This invention concerns a process for continuously sterilising surfaces in an aseptic filling line with a mixture of air and gaseous hydrogen peroxide, wherein a stream of hot air is fed through a feeding tube to the different surfaces to be sterilised.
The sterilisation of packaging materials with gaseous hydrogen peroxide is well known in the art. The European Patent Application Publication No. 0 481 361 concerns an apparatus for sterilising containers which comprises a nozzle as the source of liquid hydrogen peroxide and heated air for vaporising said hydrogen peroxide. The drawback of this system is that the use of a nozzle for introducing the liquid hydrogen peroxide leads to a tendency for blocking said nozzle, and secondly, it is more difficult to enable uniform atomisation and a complete vaporisation when droplets have to be vaporised. Furthermore, specific vaporisation chambers often require a high vaporisation temperature and the decomposition rate of hydrogen peroxide can be relatively high. Finally, the apparatus of the above mentioned patent application is complicated, which makes the maintenance and cleaning more difficult and expensive.